Starting in July, Fiji Airways will be offering direct flights between Canberra and Nadi, providing ACT residents with an easy way to reach the tropical paradise.

With twice-weekly flights on Tuesdays and Fridays from July, the airline plans to increase the frequency to three times a week in October.

This new connection also offers passengers the option to continue on to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Honolulu or destinations in the South Pacific.

Fiji Airways will operate the Canberra flights on a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, featuring recliner seats in business class.

These aircraft are becoming available due to the delivery of new A350s, which will fly to North America.

Flight FJ950 will depart Canberra at 1:35 pm and arrive in Nadi at 7:40 pm, while flight FJ951 will depart Nadi at 9:15 am and reach Canberra at 12:20 pm.

Fares are now on sale from as low as $499 return.

All economy fares include meals, beverages, inflight entertainment and carry-on baggage up to 7kg. 

Checked baggage is extra on the cheapest economy fare.

You can earn Qantas Points on paid fares, as well as use points to book seats with the airline.

Flying Canberra-Nadi return will set you back 36,000 Qantas Points in economy or 83,000 in business class, plus $235 in taxes and fees.

To fly to North America, you’ll need 83,800 points in economy or 216,800 in business class for a return fare, plus modest taxes and fees.

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Qantas Frequent Flyer members can no longer earn points when booking restaurants online after the airline ended its partnership with the booking platform Quandoo on 1 April.

The partnership launched 2019 after the previous iteration of Qantas Restaurants was similarly shut down.

The collaboration with Quandoo let Qantas Frequent Flyers earn 100 points per person, per booking across 18,000 restaurant partners in over 12 countries.

This was a popular and very simple way to earn extra points ‘on the ground’.

Now that it’s gone, there’s no other simple way to earn Qantas Points on restaurant bookings.

The only exception is Qantas’ separate partnership with the Seagrass Hospitality Group, which includes restaurants such as The Meat & Wine Co, 6Head, Hunter & Barrel, Ribs & Burgers and Italian Street Kitchen.

There, members can continue to earn up to 3 points per dollar spent.

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Perth Airport is notorious for leaving both tourists and locals scratching their heads, trying to figure out which terminal they need.

The airport’s website helpfully states that the airport has two international terminals (T1 and T3) and four domestic terminals (T1, T2, T3 and T4). No joke.

While every other international airline operates out of T1, Qantas is doing its own thing, running both domestic and international services from the separate T3/T4, which are a 10-minute drive away and have limited flight capacity.

That’s holding Qantas back from launching new routes, like those it flagged to South Africa and Indonesia in 2022 but then scrapped due to capacity problems.

The Western Australian government and Perth Airport really want Qantas to pack up and move to T1, opening the door to more non-stop overseas flights and boosting tourism.

Qantas signed an in-principle agreement to move to T1 by 2025, but that was interrupted by the pandemic. Now, there’s no new date, which is throwing a wrench in the airport’s redevelopment plans and hurting WA’s tourism scene.

Back in 2019, Perth Airport announced a whopping $2.5 billion upgrade to T1, making room for Qantas and almost doubling yearly passenger numbers. In addition, a new train line recently opened which takes passengers from the city to the airport near T1 (but far from Qantas’ T3/T4).

So why won’t Qantas play ball? Well, it wants the airport to invest more in its current T3 setup, including adding new biosecurity measures, while T1 is being finished. This would let Qantas start flying to Indonesia and South Africa sooner.

Perth Airport doesn’t want to do that. And because of the standoff, the redevelopment of T1 has been delayed.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has big dreams for Perth, wanting to turn it into an important hub, but that can’t happen without reaching an agreement with the airport.

Meanwhile, the WA government is growing increasingly frustrated. Tourism Minister Roger Cook has been urging both parties to sort things out ASAP. He thinks this whole drama is holding back Western Australia in terms of tourism and business – which, of course, is true.

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There was a lot of excitement in aviation circles when the new low-cost carrier Bonza launched in January this year.

The airline saw a gap in the market to operate routes that weren’t being served by other airlines.

Today marks another milestone, as Bonza has opened a base at Melbourne’s Tullamarne airport with the launch of flights to its ‘home’ base on the Sunshine Coast.

Tullamarine will be home to a portion of the airline’s staff and crew, as well as two Boeing 737-MAX aircraft that will soon be taking customers to 11 destinations.

The launch comes as Bonza says it has reached the key milestone of selling over 100,000 seats via the Fly Bonza app – the only way to book seats directly with the airline.

That’s a very impressive figure and bodes well for the future of the airline.

“Our team of legends have been working hard to set up and launch our second base at Melbourne Tullamarine,” said Tim Jordan, CEO of Bonza.

“The Victorian capital is our second home and based here are a number of cabin crew, pilots and first officers who get to come home after a day travelling to regional destinations on our route map,” he added.

The routes from Melbourne Tullamarine include:

• Bundaberg: Fares from $89 per person one way, 2 flights per week from 10 May 2023
• Gladstone: Fares from $89 per person one way, 2 flights per week from 11 May 2023
• Mackay: Fares from $89 per person one way, 2 flights per week from 23 May 2023
• Mildura: Fares from $49 per person one way, 3 flights per week from 8 May 2023
• Port Macquarie: Fares from $69 per person one way, 2 flights per week from 4 May 2023
• Rockhampton: Fares from $89 per person one way, 3 flights per week from 11 April 2023
• Sunshine Coast: Fares from $79 per person one way, 4 flights per week from 30 March 2023
• Tamworth: Fares from $59 per person one way, 2 flights per week from 2 May 2023
• Toowoomba Wellcamp: Fares from $79 per person one way, 4 flights per week from 17 April 2023

From Toowomba Wellcamp, customers can also connect to flights to Townsville from 19 April and the Whitsunday Coast from 21 April 2023.

Travellers are currently able to book flights up until the end of October.

The airline says the schedule for Christmas and beyond is due to be added soon.

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Qantas is stepping up its food game in lounges and onboard flights with new menus and bigger portions. And they’re using premium ingredients from Aussie producers, too.

They’ve already started rolling out new menus on domestic flights, and international flights will get the upgrade from March 29th. Expect a focus on seasonal ingredients with plant-based options in every cabin.

Domestic flights 

For domestic flights, business class is getting a boost with lighter meal options like ploughman’s and cheese plates, and yummy soups. Plus, they’re bringing back starter salads and pre-take off water and juice on longer flights.

International flights

International flights are getting a makeover, too. Economy class is getting new dishes like cajun prawns with spiced rice, Korean chilli and garlic chicken with kimchi, and black pepper beef with oyster mushrooms.

And instead of just a snack, passengers will get a second meal in all cabins on flights to Asia. In economy, these include chicken fried rice, and sage and lemon ravioli with kale and napolitana sauce.

Premium economy passengers are in for a treat with a new starter salad and ice-cream service on all flights. Their main meals are getting an upgrade, too, with dishes like salmon with tomato fennel sauce and quinoa, and braised lamb shank with red wine mushroom sauce and potato puree.

In first class, new menu options include upmarket dishes featuring calvisius caviar, Queensland spanner crab salad, crumbed margra lamb cutlets, and seared glacier 51 toothfish.

Meanwhile in international business class, gueses will enjoy seared grasslands beef fillet, free-range chicken kyiv, and seared snapper with black bean sauce.

Lounges

If you’re hanging out in the Qantas lounges, get ready for some new ‘plate of the day’ options.

In International First Lounges, expect dishes like steamed blue eye with pickled daikon, and eight-hour beef brisket with potato puree, tarragon and shallot butter.

The International Business Lounges are also stepping up their game with fresh ricotta and crisp pancetta plates, and beef, bacon and dark ale pies.

Oh, and did we mention ice cream in Qantas Clubs and international and domestic Business Lounges? Yes, please!

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Qantas and Jetstar are giving customers an extra year to use all those flight credits they received during the travel chaos from March 2020 to September 2021.

Out of the $2 billion in credits the airlines gave out, there’s still about $800 million unused.

They’ve already extended the deadline three times, but now they’re doing it one last time to give customers a final opportunity to book flights.

Before this change, you had to book and finish your travel by December 31, 2023. Now, you still need to book by the end of this year, but you’ve got until December 2024 to actually go on your trip.

Qantas and Jetstar have tried to make using those COVID credits easier. They’ve set up a special help line, sent out reminders, and given people prompts when booking online.

Need help? Qantas customers can hit up the Travel Credit Concierge Team at 1300 171 505 or check out the Travel Credits Hub. For Jetstar peeps, just use LiveChat to find your voucher details.

Expect to receive an email about the changes to your vouchers. But if you booked through a travel agent, give them a call to sort it out. Happy travels!

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